Phil Hay

Luke Murphy, Toumani Diagouraga and Ross Turnbull look increasingly surplus to requirements at Leeds United after they were left out of the squad list printed in Saturday’s matchday programme.

The three players, who between them have made only two appearances this season, were absent from squad numbers published by Leeds ahead of a 2-1 victory over Barnsley, underlining their peripheral roles at Elland Road.

United midfielder Luke Murphy

United also omitted them from the list in the programme for their previous home game against Ipswich Town on September 24, despite handing the players squad numbers at the start of the season.

Diagouraga, who only joined United in January, has not played or made Monk’s 18-man matchday squad since featuring in a 3-0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers on the opening day of the Championship term.

The midfielder cost Leeds £575,000 from Brentford - a deal done while Steve Evans was head coach - but he was made available in the recent transfer window and came close to securing a loan move to Rotherham United in the days before the deadline.

Murphy has also featured once under Garry Monk, in a League Cup tie away at Luton Town, but he is down the order in a highly competitive group of central midfielder. The 26-year-old, however, remains under contract until 2019 having signed a new four-year deal last summer.

Goalkeeper Turnbull looked set to be understudy to Rob Green this term after Italian keeper Marco Silvestri was sent home by Monk from Leeds’ pre-season tour of Ireland and told the train with the Under-21s but Silvestri has fought his way back into contention and Turnbull, who sat on the bench for the first four games of the campaign, has been out of the picture since Silvestri replaced him as a substitute in a 2-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday.

All three remain on the books at Elland Road and Leeds have no immediate plans to sever their contracts. Turnbull’s deal ends next summer while Diagouraga is tied down until 2018.